An increasingly serious threat to health care personnel in general, and most specifically to health care technicians who regularly draw blood from patients for analytical purposes, is the possible contraction of an infectious disease from an incidental needle prick or the puncturing or scratching of the skin by any of a variety of medical cutting and puncturing devices. Handling of parenteral and phlebotomy needle assemblies during disposal procedures after they are used is considered to present one of the most serious risks of job injury to health care workers.
Federal regulations require used medical needles be disposed of in the safest possible manner. A great variety of devices have been offered or suggested to facilitate and improve the safety of medical needle disposal. Most commonly, these devices are one of two types, a first class of devices incorporating needle removal and a second class of devices incorporating needle severance. While needle severance devices may be adapted to work with both medical units having needle assemblies with removable hubs and units having fixed integral needle elements, an inherent problem with the use of devices relying upon needle severance is the residual sharp stump of the needle which remains with the needle assembly hub or barrel of an integral parental syringe or other device, which poses a latent threat of skin piercing injury. A greater, more obvious thread is posed where the second needle of double ended needle assemblies, such are is used with phlebotomy devices which utilize vacuum sample containers to withdraw blood samples, are not severed and remain with the device.
Most medical needle assemblies presently used at health care facilities are detachable from the associated medical device at the needle assembly hub. The detachable joining of the medical device and the needle assembly at the hub is generally accomplished by use of helical threads or friction retention male/female couplings. Particularly in the case of double ended phlebotomy needles used with vacuum sample vials, the detachable hubs may be provided with a helical thread. Thus a number of devices have been suggested and made available for removing and disposing of needle assemblies utilizing detachable hubs, particularly those incorporating a helical thread.
Needle disposal devices have been available for use with both threaded and friction-fit removable hub needle assemblies which incorporate a container with a lid which includes a hole contiguous with a tapered slot to allow the hubs to be jammed in the tapered slot and removed by manual manipulation of the medical unit. Similar devices, for use exclusively with threaded hubs, have utilized a stair-stepped edge along the slot to engage ribs on the threaded hub in a manner similar to a hub wrench. Many of these devices require the use of both hands, one to hold the body of the device and the other to position the hub of the medical unit in the hole, engage it in the converging slot and rotate the barrel of the syringe or other medical device attached to the needle assembly to cause the helical threads of the hub to become disengaged. Often, with these devices, the hub must be urged from the converging slot back toward the hole with the barrel of the syringe or body of the medical device before it will drop into the disposal container. Some of the devices available incorporate a bracket to attach the container to a fixed surface and thus allow needle assemblies to be disposed of with one hand. However, while these devices allow one hand to be free, one handed manipulation of the medical device nonetheless requires time and a minimum degree of dexterity and presents a risk of fumbling the medical unit resulting in a scratch or puncture of the skin by the needle.
Many needle disposal devices also incorporate large openings in their lids to allow their uses as mini medical trash receptacles. Such holes compromise the protection offered by these units by remitting fingers to extend into the container holding the contaminated needles thus increasing the risk of personal injury. Also, when the container is not fastened in place and may be tipped or knocked over, such large openings may allow used needles to spill from the container, again presenting a hazard of skin scratches or punctures by used needles.